This week is a bit more active than the last few have been. There are 3 big releases to watch.

1. Far Cry 4 (PS3, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC) – Metascore (as of 11/18/2014) = 85 – Rated M for Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

2. Dragon Age: Inquisition (PS3, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC) – Metascore (as of 11/18/2014) = 89 for PS4, 86 for Xbox One, 87 for PC – Rated M for Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language

   There is one thing I want to mention about this game beyond what the rating says. This a role-playing game where the player builds a part of people around his character to help him advance. One of the things the player can do is initiate intimate relationships between his character and certain characters in his party, including characters of the same gender. If pursued, these relationships end with a cinematic sex scene.

3. Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS4, Xbox One) – Metascore (as of 111/18/2014) = 96 for PS4 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

   This game was released on other platforms in September. You can read my thoughts on it here.

There were a couple big games releases this week.

1. Assassin’s Creed Unity (PS4, Xbox One, PC) – Metascore (as of 11/13/2014) = 79 for PS4, 76 for Xbox One – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol – This is the newest game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

   The content of this game, as you can imagine, involves a lot of killing. It differs in a game like Call of Duty in that the killing is done on a more personal level. In Call of Duty, the player will kill a ton of enemies with a machine gun at a distance. In Assassin’s Creed, the player will hunt and kill individual targets.

2. World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor (PC) – Metascore (as of 11/13/2014) = No score yet – Rate T for Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence – This is the next expansion for World of Warcraft

   The content of this expansion is similar to that of the previous game and expansions. If your gamer is playing World of Warcraft, she will be interested in this.

There is one major release this week your gamer is probably watching. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Metascore (as of 11/05/2014) = 83 for PS4, 84 for Xbox One – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language – This is the Transformers of the video game industry. It is a big budget game that is expected to dominate the sales charts (although it has had some stiff competition the last few years).

The two main gameplay modes are single player and multiplayer. The single player campaign content is typical of what you would see in an R rated military movie. The multiplayer allows the player to play with and against other players. There are several different modes of play, including deathmatch and capture-the-flag.

You can read more about Call of Duty in my “Games You Should Know About” series.

This week sees the release of one of the big Xbox One exclusives, Sunset Overdrive. Here is its information.

Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One) – Metascore (as of 10/29/2014) = 82 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence – This is an Xbox One exclusive for which gamers have been waiting for a while. It is a third-person shooter set in a fanciful, zombie infested world. Here is some gameplay footage to give you an idea of what it’s like.

The content in this game is what you would expect from an M rated shooter. There is a lot of blood and bad language. Basically, treat it as you would a rated R action movie.

There are not a bunch of big new releases this week. Here are 3 to keep an eye on.

1. The Walking Dead Season Two (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Vita – Retail) – Metascore (for PC as of 10/21/2014) = 77 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco – Last week saw the release of season one of this series on PS4 and Xbox One. The second season comes out for all the consoles today.

   The content for this game is similar to that of the first. The gameplay can be pretty intense. You will want to steer clear of this one if you do not want your gamer playing horror games.

2. Bayonetta 2 (Wii U on October 24th) – Metascore (as of 10/21/2014) = 91 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes – This is the sequel to Bayonetta, which was released in January of 2010. It is a 3rd person action game.

   The content of this game is extremely over-the-top. The first level has the player fighting while riding on top of a fighter jet flying through New York. You can get an idea of just how over-the-top from this trailer.

   The one area of concern you should have with this game is its sexuality. The protagonist is a woman in skin-tight clothing. There are scenes where the camera pans up or down her body. I wanted to embed the trailer to make it easier for you to see but the thumbnail was one of those shots. There are also instances where she is covered only by her hair when doing a big attack. This is something you will want to keep in mind when deciding on it for your gamer.

3. Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC on October 24th) – Metascore (as of 10/21/2014) = No Score Yet – Rated E10 for Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence, Language – This is the next game in the Civilization franchise. It is a turn-based strategy game. A single game can take quite a while. This is a game where you may want to give your gamer several hours on one night instead of one hour every night.

   The content of this game is pretty tame, thus the E10 rating. This is equivalent to a PG movie rating.

Tuesday is release day for video games just like it is for movies coming out on DVD. I am going to write each Tuesday about the big releases. This is part of my effort to help you stay up-to-date with what is going on without having to do the research yourself.

Here are three of the big games releasing today.

1. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) – Metascore (as of 10/14/2014) = 76 – Rated M for Blood, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence – This is the third game the in Borderlands franchise. Borderlands is a FPS/Action RPG hybrid. The player receives quests that they complete for rewards and experience. They become stronger as they level up, which allows them to fight tougher monsters.

   The content in Borderlands is standard fair for the FPS genre. The player will accumulate a wealth of guns which they use to kills enemies. Some of the guns do more than cause the enemies to die. For example, a gun with a fire property has a chance to set the enemy on fire. This may cause the enemy to run around screaming before they die. The graphics for this are more cartoony than games like Call of Duty but can still be pretty graphic.

   Your gamer may be interested in this if he likes the previous games in the franchise, FPSs like Call of Duty, or Action RPGs like Diablo or Torchlight 2.

2. The Evil Within (PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360) – Metascore (as of 10/14/2014) = 76 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language – This is a third-person survival horror game. Here is the quick description of the game.

   While investigating the scene of a gruesome mass murder, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners encounter a mysterious and powerful force. After seeing the slaughter of fellow officers, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a deranged world where hideous creatures wander among the dead. Facing unimaginable terror, and fighting for survival, Sebastian embarks on a frightening journey to unravel what�s behind this evil force.

   The content in The Evil Within is intense. The player must learn how to use different weapons and objects in the environment to survive. The atmosphere is created specifically to induce tension and anxiety.

   Your gamer may be interested in this if she enjoys games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. If, however, you would not let your gamer watch a horror movie, you should avoid this one.

3. The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season (PS4, Xbox One) – Metascore (as of 10/14/2014) = 89 – Rated M for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language – This is an adventure game set in The Walking Dead universe.

   The content in The Walking Dead is intense. The player plays as Lee Everett, who is on his way to prison when the game begins. Zombies begin to appear, which leads to Lee meeting Clementine. Clementine is a young girl who is on her own because her parents are out-of-town when the zombie invasion begins. The player then spends the rest of the game taking care of Clementine.

   Throughout the game, player has to make decisions that affect other characters, sometimes within a short time frame. The decisions the player makes can affect which character live and which die. This leads to some very intense moments.

   As with The Evil Within, this is one to avoid if you do not want your gamer watching horror.

Last week saw the release of one of the most anticipated games of the year, Watch Dogs.

Watch Dogs is an open-world, sandbox game similar to Grand Theft Auto. It is set in a futuristic version of Chicago where everything is connected through a central network of computers. The player can hack the system to accomplish objectives.

For example, the player might have a mission where they have to kill a specific character. One of the ways they can accomplish this is by hacking the street lights to cause a huge crash when the character reaches an intersection.

Watch Dogs is rated M with these descriptors:

• Blood
• Intense Violence
• Nudity
• Strong Language
• Strong Sexual Content
• Use of Drugs and Alcohol

It has reviewed pretty well. As of this writing, it is sitting at an 82 on Metacritic with 52 Positive and 9 mixed reviews.

The content in Watch Dogs is what you would expect from this type of game. The description from the game’s website sets the scene:

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy. While seeking justice for those events, you’ll monitor and hack those around you by manipulating the ctOS from the palm of your hand. You’ll access omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control traffic lights and public transportation to stop the enemy… and more.

With a description like that (specifically “a violent family tragedy” and “seeking justice”), it is no surprise this is a violent game. And “Nudity” and “Strong Sexual Content” is becoming more and more prevalent in these types of games. If you draw the line at either of those types of content, Watch Dogs is one to avoid.

We have hit March, which means new releases are starting to pick up. First, there was the release of Thief to some mixed reviews and then last week saw the release of South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Today marks the release of one of the most highly anticipated games for this year, Titanfall.

Titanfall is a multiplayer only first-person shooter (FPS). It was developed by Respawn Entertainment. Respawn is comprised of many of the developers responsible for the Call of Duty franchise. It is being released for the PC, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.

A multiplayer match in Titanfall consists of two 6 player teams. Each player has the ability to call down a “Titan”�, a large mechanical suit, which they can climb into to give them different abilities.

Here is TotalBiscuit giving you an idea of what Titanfall is about.

What do you need to know about it?

The ESRB has rated Titanfall M for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, and Violence. This is fairly standard fair for a military style FPS.

There is one thing you do need to consider, though. Games like Call of Duty have both a single-player campaign and a multiplayer component. Titanfall, however, only has multiplayer. This means two things.

1. Titanfall requires an internet connection at all times. This could be an issue if your internet connection is unreliable. It also can make for a shaky first few days. A lot of online-only game crumble under the weight of the initial launch excitement. I would probably wait a week or so before I bought it for that reason.
2. If you are looking to restrict your gamer’s interaction with strangers over the internet, Titanfall is probably not for you.

The preliminary reviews for Titanfall are mostly positive. As of this writing, it is sitting at an 87 on Metacritic.